to continue to identify the drugs and vaccines which, in the light of scientific knowledge, are indispensable for primary health care and control of diseases prevalent in the population, and to update periodically this aspect of the report of the WHO Expert Committee on the Selection of Essential Drugs;

to cooperate with Member States in formulating drug policies and management programmes that are relevant to the health needs of populations and are aimed at ensuring access of the whole population to essential drugs at a cost the country can afford;

to improve existing WHO supply services for drugs, including vaccines, and medical equipment, through closer collaboration with the United Nations Children's Fund, and to ensure that developing countries take full advantage of such services;

to ensure collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank and regional development banks and funds, the United Nations Children's Fund and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization with a view to ensuring that technical expertise and financing are made available to interested countries for establishing, wherever feasible, local production corresponding to their health needs, it being understood that financing should be independent of the source of technology;

to develop further the dialogue with pharmaceutical industries in order to assure their collaboration in meeting the health needs of large underserved segments of the world's population;

to study how prices of pharmaceutical products are determined and possible strategies for reducing such prices, including the development of a code of marketing practices, with special emphasis on pharmaceutical products essential for the populations of developing countries;

to take appropriate steps to cooperate with Member States in developing quality control systems for drugs, whether imported or locally produced, and to establish regional quality control networks;

to foster exchange of information among Member States on drug policies and management and on technical aspects of pharmaceutical products;

to submit to the sixty-third session of the Executive Board a comprehensive action programme as outlined above, aimed at fostering technical cooperation among developing countries, and to stimulate bilateral and multilateral cooperation in this programme;

to invite the participation of governments directly interested in implementing this action programme in their own countries, governments willing to provide support, relevant United Nations agencies, and other appropriate cooperating parties;

to submit a report on the progress achieved in the implementation of this action programme to subsequent sessions of the Executive Board and Health Assembly.